CD38 in Ovarian Aging

The ovaries, like the thymus, are interesting for their comparatively early exhibition of age-related degeneration. Is there anything useful that can be learned about aging more generally by looking at the portions of the body that experience aging more rapidly? That remains to be seen. Here, researchers investigate NAD+ metabolism in the ovaries versus other tissues, noting that CD38, an enzyme that removes NAD+, is more active earlier in life. Approaches to maintain NAD+ levels slow ovarian aging, including knocking out CD38. Delayed childbearing is prevalent worldwide, and ovarian senescence occurs earlier than most of the other organs in females. Ovarian function decreased dramatically in middle age, as shown by a decrease in oocyte quality and ovarian reserve. We hypothesized that middle-aged mice may be useful for investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying ovarian senescence. Our study showed the transcriptome changes that occur in the ovaries of middle-aged mice when many other organs showed no aging-related gene changes. In particular, gene transcripts in aging-related pathways, including the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), cell cycle, inflammation, and DNA repair, were misregulated in the ovary but not in multiple other organs when comparing middle-aged with young mice. Indeed, increased expression of aging markers, namely, p16 and p21, and inflammation-related factors was observed in the ovary but not in other organs from middle-age...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs